After 65 years, Korean War casualty's remains coming home to Houston

18-year-old died in 1951 as Chinese prisoner of war

Using DNA testing techniques, forensic pathologists have identified the skeletal remains of a Houston soldier who died in a prisoner of war camp during the Korean War.

The remains of Army Cpl. Davey H. Bart, 18, were among those of 600 military personnel recovered from or returned by North Korea in the 1990s. Bart's remains will be buried in Humble on March 26.

The identification of Bart's remains was announced Friday by the U.S. Defense Department's POW/MIA Accounting Agency.

Lt. Col. Holly Slaughter, an agency spokeswoman, said Bart was assigned to Company K, 3rd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, in 1950. On Nov. 1, Chinese People's Volunteer Forces launched a surprise attack on Bart's unit near Unsan, North Korea, resulting in the capture of a large number of American troops.

The engagement, one of the worst for American troops during the conflict, was part of a larger Chinese assault on U.S.-defended positions near Unsan. After intense battles with the 1st Cavalry's 1st and 2nd battalions, Chinese fighters infiltrated the 3rd Battalion position disguised as South Korean soldiers. Many U.S. soldiers were asleep when the attack began.

Bart was declared missing in action.

During a 1953 prisoner exchange, a freed U.S. serviceman told military authorities that Bart, held at the Pyokton prisoner of war camp, had died in February 1951. An official Chinese prisoner of war list later specified that Bart died in March of that year, leading U.S. officials to declare the Houston soldier deceased.

In the 1990s, North Korea returned 208 boxes of commingled remains, some of which were recovered from the area in which Bart is thought to have died. Additional remains were brought to the U.S. through joint American-North Korean recovery efforts.

Slaughter said 7,820 Americans remain unaccounted for from the Korean War.

Allan Turner, senior general assignments reporter, joined the Houston Chronicle in 1985. He has been assistant suburban editor, assistant state editor and roving state reporter. He previously worked at daily newspapers in Amarillo, Austin and San Antonio.